Teddy Bear
by TeddyBearSunshineJoy54
Summary: Loki buys his very own teddy bear. Winner of "LokiMyLove"'s contest on deviantART.


**This is for my five best teddy bears: Benu, Cole, Kenny, Hop, and Bumper. The hours you let me cry on you and hug you are priceless. And this is for everyone who loves their teddy bear, because you know you do. **

**This takes place after The Avengers, assuming Loki is sent to Earth without his powers as his punishment. **

* * *

Friendship. Nothing else made Loki's mind swim as much as that single word. What defined a true friend? What made these humans crave friendship so greatly? Was it real or nearly another habit the creatures clung to, like brushing their teeth at certain times throughout the day?

Loki didn't need friends. He had ever had them and he never would.

The Avengers. He was technically a part of them now, but he had never felt so on the outside before, so not belonging with them. (Or anyone, for that matter.) Even he and Thor, who's relationship had been somewhat salvaged, no longer felt genuine. At least, that's what Loki thought about the matter. Loki thought about a lot of things, especially during his daily walks, which, thank you, he preferred to take alone.

On this particular day, he noticed a small child, a girl with blonde hair who couldn't have been older than seven. She had tripped and scraped up her knees pretty badly. The girl's mother held her as she cried, her head resting against her mother's shoulder as tears streamed down her face. In her hands she held onto a somewhat familiar item-a teddy bear. The child clutched it almost desperately as if it were the only thing keeping her alive.

No one in the world but Loki knew Bruce's deepest, darkest secret. It was so horrifying, so unimaginable it will leave the reader speechless. But Dr. Bruce Banner, the one and only, slept with a teddy bear. A teddy bear named, appropriately, Gamma. His Little purple Gamma.

Loki could not for the life of him understand what any possible comfort a stuffed inanimate object could provide. Because that's why people slept with plushies-for some sort of delusional comfort they provided. The god even held the thing, which was a ghastly purple color, at least ten years old. It was missing its left button eye and smelled of salty tears and Bruce's cologne.

_Yuck_.

So after that incident (which had a happy ending-the girl's mother had some band aids), teddy bears seemed to haunt Loki's thoughts. Out of all the strange and useless Midgardian things, teddy bears decided to stalk him. A few morning walks later, as it would be, Loki came across a teddy bear in the window of a small shop as he strolled along the boulevard. For reasons still unknown to him down to this day, he stopped dead in his tracks and merely stared, green eyes wide. The bear was fairly large, about as big as an Italian loaf of bread, with light, creamy colored fur and a fuzzy white belly. His eyes were stitched on with black thread, rather than the button eyes on Bruce's, and his nose was a chocolaty brown. On the teddy's chest there was a bright pink heart meticulously stitched on.

Patting his pockets, Loki realized he still had some of this Midgardian currency Earthlings called, _Money _on him. Off he went and spent $12.95 on the teddy bear. He had only three dollars left, and somehow he dreaded asking Tony Stark for more because he spent it all on a child's toy.

He made it into the Avengers Tower without any detection, as usual. Loki held the teddy bear arm's distance away, a small frown marking his features. What had he done? He tossed it aside and sighed deeply, disappointed in himself. He was supposed to keep away from human things, be disgusted by them. But as he glanced over at the stuffed animal lying in the corner, something pulled at his heart strings. He lifted it back into his arms, hesitantly.

The white pads of his feet were also stitched on, as well as the outline of his ears and his stomach. Cautiously, Loki poked his tummy, surprised at its softness that he hadn't noticed before, as if his hands were previously numb and they had just now recovered feeling. He sat it on his bed and studied it. It reminded him much of Thor, his elder brother, and from then on the teddy bear came to be known as _Thor_.

* * *

By the third day, Loki had begun petting Thor's fur. On the fifth day, Loki had taken up talking to Thor late at night, sometimes in the middle of the night and straight on until morning. He would go on about whatever troubled him, what made him happy, what made him angry, his regrets, dreams, wishes; anything he desired. This is why: Unlike anyone else, Thor listened with an open heart and an open mind. Even if he never replied, he never interrupted. By the tenth day, Loki had taken up allowing Thor to share his bed. And on the one month anniversary, Loki had begun cuddling with the bear, falling asleep with him tucked safely in his arms, comfortable snuggled under his chin. In no time Thor's fur had been flattened and ruffled, in as bad shape as the crying little girl's teddy bear.

The Avengers may have called themselves heroes as they pranced around in their capes and masks with their metal umbrellas and such. But a teddy bear was a real hero. Perhaps not all Earth things were despicable, decided Loki. Nothing else in all the Nine Realms loved him more than this simple plush that cost him $12.95. He smiled as he explained this to Thor. "We're alike, you and me," he whispered. Because the teddy bear Thor, not unlike Loki, had his heart on the outside of his chest.


End file.
